Rob Andrews: “Students in this era take laptops and hand-held computers to class, but they are very often being taught by teachers who…”

“Students in this era take laptops and hand-held computers to class, but they are very often being taught by teachers who started teaching when cable television was an innovation or even when color television was an innovation. This is a very promising bill that the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) has written, that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), and the others have brought to the floor. I am happy to support it and commend all those responsible for it. My concern is that the promise of this bill may well turn out to be another unfulfilled promise when it comes to helping teachers catch up to the new realities of the world in which they are teaching. School districts across this country already understand that reality. When they look at the requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, they understand that by the 2005-2006 school year, every classroom must have a highly qualified teacher in that classroom. The gap between getting to that point and where we are now is a very expensive one; and if we look at the education funding bill that the House will be considering tomorrow, there is an $8 billion difference between what is needed by school districts around our country and what is provided by the majority in its bill to meet that need.”